Going Home Without You
by Demetri-The-Bloodhound
Summary: Henry Mills, Peter Pan and Belle belong to ABC. Zach and Klaus belong to their respective owners. A Once Upon A Time Fanfic. Based off a roleplay with my friend Zachary whose character had fallen in love with Henry Mills whom I roleplay. One thing led to another and this gem found its way in. Warning: ANGST. PETER PAN BEING A LITTLE SHIT. BLOOD. BUT MOSTLY ANGST.


Zachary knew the exact moment his life went to hell.

"It wasn't the burning Neverland woods, or the setting sun that cast a blood lit glow on the already crimson forest. It wasn't losing Belle or Klaus in the fire, not knowing if his friends had made it out safe or not.

"It was seeing the devilish smirk on Peter Pan's face as he plunged a hand through Henry's chest. Then the heart. Pure, shining and pulsing, it was truly the Heart of the Truest Believer. Zachary couldn't move, his feet was frozen to the burning ground. Henry's face was as pale as Snow White's namesake as he gaped in horror at seeing his own heart in front of him.

"Remarkable." Peter Pan examined the heart with as much ease as an artist admiring his latest piece. "And poor little queen Regina cast a protective charm over this...seems all spells must wear out." He chuckled, a bit giddy at having the upper hand yet again.

"Pan..." Peter turned his head to see Zachary slowly approach him, eyes intent on the heart. "You...if you apply any amount of pressure to Henry's-"

"Lover boy, yes. I assume this is the part where you say I crush it, I die yes?" Peter wagged a finger at him. "Oh if only you listened to me and took the chance to kill the others as I so nicely asked? But alas..." He paused long enough for Henry to regain his breath and make a semi-useless lunge to grab his heart. Henry was on his knees, screaming in mere seconds. Pan's laugh was demonic as he released the pressure from the heart. "Cheaters never win."

Everything happened fast.

Peter began to crush the heart. Zachary let out a hate-filled roar and thrust his hand forward, magic pulsing out of it. Henry choked and fell to his stomach.

Zachary's eyes flickered open and he found himself lying on his back. His head ached and his limbs felt as if weights were tied to them. But his first thought wasn't to himself or either if he hit Pan or not. Henry. Oh god, where was he? His body shot up and he began frantically searching the area.

The fire had cleared and everything looked as if it had been run over by a bulldozer. Zachary blinked in shock as his gaze went to his soot-covered hands. Had he done this? He just remembered getting angry and believing beyond hope he had to stop Pan from...from...

"Henry!" Zachary rushed forward, and collapsing to his knees besides Henry's battered body. "H-Henry...are you..."

Henry coughed once and his eyes blinked open slowly. They immediately landed on Zach. "Zach?"

"Oh dear god, don't talk. Your heart..I need to..." Pan was gone but Zach didn't care much about what happened to him, he needed to find Henry's heart.

And there it was, lying in a dull heap in a pile of burnt leaves. Zachary quickly grabbed at it and held it close to his own chest, staring down at it with a desperate look as if this heart was his own.

In a way...it was.

The heart for all it's worth was beating, slow and painfully but it was beating. Nothing was wrong except...A split lay in the middle of the heart. Like a jagged scar, it sliced down the center. "Oh Henry...oh god, I did this." Zachary couldn't hold back the flood of tears that escaped his eyes. His voice stayed strong. He had to be strong, he couldn't worry Henry.

But what Zachary kept forgetting was, Henry understood much more than people would assume he did. "Zach...Zach, you'll be okay."

Zachary's head snapped up. "I'LL BE OKAY? Henry, don't be selfless, you're bleeding and your heart is-"

"Zach." Henry smiled softly and he weakly lifted a hand to place on Zach's. The hand that held the heart. "My heart is going to be fine...you have it, you always did." He chuckled quietly at the cheezy-ness and the unbelievable part of it all. "Take care of it, okay? Take us home with.."

Henry isn't smiling anymore, but his lips are parted, blood oozing sluggishly from the splits. The same hand Zach's used to clutch the heart, he now used to caress him. He takes Henry's cheek in his hand. His bastard heart fills up with so much goddamn remorse. He asks, weakly, "Why won't you face the truth and...Henry, you're dying. You.." Oh god, these next words. "Henry, you're not going home with us. Why can't you tell me?"

Henry presses against his palm like a mere toddler and answers, "Because I don't care, Rose." and then, "But you care. I love watching you care. You're so goddamn beautiful."

Zachary looked into his eyes and completely forgot the rest of the world. In that moment, all he knew was that he was holding the heart of the boy he loves in his hand, and he was going to feel it stop beating very, very soon.

"Henry...just...just hold on, I-I'll get Belle and Klaus. They'll know what to do..." Panic seized his words. "Henry...I...I'm sorry."

There a was a long silence, then:

"Pretty, pretty words." Zach felt his whole body tense up as he looked over his shoulder at the monster disguised as a boy. "I thought he'd be dead by now, but surprises keep coming." That was the last sentence Pan got out before his head snapped back. Blood splattered his clothes.

Zach grabbed Peter's collar and pulled him so their faces were inches apart. In Zach's eyes were a fiery sorrow. In Peter's an unmistakable shock. "Fix this, you-you demon!" Zach roared and shook him roughly. "You did this, you heal him!"

Peter stared at him with with absolutely no expression. His lip was cut from the punch but that didn't seem to faze him. Nothing seemed to faze him. "You're the one who did this to him, did you ever think about that, Zachary Rose? It was you who brought him here and it was you who will bring him to death's arms." Peter spoke slow and hard, his tone dripping with terrible truths.

Zach's eyes narrowed and he pulled back his fist.

"And it is you who can save him."

The arm fell. A look of shock. But this time from Zach. "What? Why would you tell me that?"

Peter lifted a pale hand and pried off Zachary's hand from his shirt. "I've decided that in this game, a game over this fast was just to predictable. Sure, games need losers but it also needs winners. And I'm interested in continuing playing. It's your magic that split his heart, not mine."

"And it's mine that can put it back together..."

Peter Pan smirked. "Now you're getting it. I don't suppose you were a pawn on the checkerboard after all, Rose." He chuckled, short and dark. And was gone.

But that didn't matter. He needed to save Henry.

"Henry was in the exact same spot he left him, the heart in loose fingers at his side. When Zachary went to confront the Lost Boy, and in many ways he was lost, he had left the heart in Henry's limp fingers. But now it had paled considerably, a beat once every many agonized seconds. Slow and deadening. The truest believer wasn't moving at all. His eyes stared up into the Neverland night.

"Hold on Henry...that's all I'm asking." Zachary leaned down and kissed him on his blood stained forehead before setting to work. He held his hand out over the only thing that kept Henry to the land of the living. Magic sparked from shaky fingertips and advanced over the heart.

It shone brightly and purely. "Come on..." Zach closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He could do this...a little more. Just a little more. The split was slowly beginning to stitch together. Progress, it was progress.

"Zach.."

"Henry!?" Zach's eyes popped open but Henry hadn't moved. His lips were still in that open position. but it stopped bleeding. He tried not to focus on how much blood that escaped Henry's mouth was now staining his neck and collar.

His eyes fixated on the heart. The split was gone! It was gone! Zach felt a tug on his own heart. "I swear on everything that is light and pure...and good...if there is any real Light out there, any real hope that can be held on to...work!" He shoved the heart into Henry's chest. One moment...two..

Nothing.

"Henry...Henry, no..." Zach rested his head against Henry's chest and sobbed. It wracked his entire frame with guilt ridden cries of lost and despair. The sounds of footsteps echoed deeply in his ears but he didn't care...let them come...he couldn't do it anymore.

"Zach!? Henry, oh my god!?" He recognized Belle's voice but he didn't make a move. He was too tired to do anything.

"Zach...you gotta get up now." There was Klaus. Nothing any of them could say could make it better, to make it bearable.

"If you're going to grieve, at least get off of me first and properly hug me. I mean...I only came close to dying."

Pause.

A beat.

"Oh my god!" Zach cried and hugged the living, breathing boy into his arms. Henry laughed at the reaction but it sounded as if he were close to sobbing too.

Zach broke away and stared at him. Henry smiled back, eyes glistening. He was a mess, bloody and disheavled, but alive. "I...I saved you?"

Henry nodded. "Did you ever doubt you would?"

"Truthfully...the evil Lost Boy and you kind of not breathing gave me pause."

Henry wrapped his arms around him and whispered. "But I found you again...I found you."


End file.
